Federal-Style 140 Bowery for Sale
With 35 Cooper Square hanging by the proverbial thread, many in the neighborhood remain worried about the fate of other Federal-style buildings along the Bowery. Like 206 Bowery, which is still kicking around the Landmarks Preservation Commission machine. Fears are continually stoked due to the constant threat of gentrification and its trusty demolition sidekick. And now another historic structure could be next.
This image has been archived or removed.
Boogie reader Mose submitted a comment yesterday regarding 140 Bowery, currently the home of Lighting Library on the ground level. The property is listed on Showcase.com, but does not include sale price; Streeteasy has no information. We decided to publish the response in its entirety:
The federal was america’s first architectural style. There are only 2 early style mostly unaltered federal buildings on the Bowery, 35 cooper square and 140 bowery. While there are only a hand full of federal buildings left in the city, just a few of them are this early squat 2 1/2 story type. It is essential to distinguish the difference between these and the taller elegant federal homes that lined lower Broadway when George Washington was sworn in as our first president a few blocks away. These early modest federal houses were commonly occupied by a tradesman who kept a shop on the street level and lived on the 2nd floor. The dormered attic often housed the tradesman’s apprentice, domestic servants or boarders. These were the homes of New York’s early working class families. The men, women and children of the industrial revolution who literally built this city with their hands.
But nothing remarkable enough to have been recorded by history happened here for its first 150 years that we know of. A future president was not born in this house. The institutions which have the power to grant a stay of execution are not impressed by its pedigree (was not built by the RIGHT Stuyvesant), nor its performance (170 years of common New Yorkers living their common lives). Robert Tierney has judged 35 cooper an underachiever in a city of power brokers, and slackers are not welcome in new New York..
If 35 cooper square is razed 140 Bowery will be the last one.
Recent Stories
East Broadway Subway Station Turns 85
The East Broadway subway station wasn’t always a shady dungeon attracting crime. Once upon a time, the transit stop inspired celebrations across the Lower East Side. It was exactly eighty-five years ago – January 1, 1936 – that the East Broadway subway station debuted to the public. The feat of subterranean engineering, then known as […]
Looking at the New Ludlow House Annex Atop Demolished Libation Site
Well, that was quick. With Libation excised from the Lower East Side, the hole is now filled. Taken over by Ludlow House. The building at 137 Ludlow Street was demolished last year, and replaced in a matter of months. In fact, it’s already operational. The architecture of this one-story newcomer mirrors design elements of its […]
Stringer Promises ‘Fair Share’ of PPP for City Businesses
City Comptroller (and mayoral candidate) Scott Stringer held a press conference yesterday at the Chinatown kiosk on Canal Street, announcing a plan to funnel federal Payroll Protection (PPP) dollars to New York city businesses. It certainly triggered an uncomfortable memory of last year’s PPP fiasco. The first round of PPP went into effect just a […]
‘Open Streets’ Town Hall Yields More Questions than Answers
Tuesday night’s Town Hall on Open Restaurants and Open Streets, hosted by Community Boards 3 and 6 – left residents with more questions than answers regarding the long-term impact these pandemic-era health and economic neighborhood solutions have on a post-COVID city. However, the online meetup did bring a wide scope of information in terms of […]
Unused Half of Bowery’s Sunshine Hotel Flophouse Available to Rent
The leasing banner has been strung from the facade of 241 Bowery for more than two years. Without much success. The second and third floors (combined 8,938 square-feet) – once part of the Sunshine Hotel flophouse – are again on the market. And at a hefty price: $6,495 for a “raw” space that requires renovations […]
